THQ Collection

Yesterday we finally got word of where THQ's franchises were going, as the company's intellectual properties were sold off piece-meal to various publishers. One notable exception, however, was Vigil Games and the Darksiders franchise, which went unclaimed. The series' fortunes look bleak, but Platinum Games has signaled an interest in saving it.

IGN reports that JP Kellams, a talent spotter and translator for Platinum, reached out to Vigil lead designer Haydn Dalton about getting in touch with staff members to work with or at Platinum.

Platinum isn't as flush with funds as some auction buyers like Ubisoft or Take 2, so the purchase would probably have to be "on the cheap." But given that Darksiders hasn't stirred up interest elsewhere, that might be a viable goal. This could mean future games in the Darksiders franchise, and possibly even some involvement from former team members if they take Kellams up on the job offer.

After S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was cancelled, former members of developer GSC Game World founded Vostok Games to continue the ideals of the open-world survival shooter series with Survarium. As for the actual S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brand, though, it wasn't quite clear what was happening. Shady rumours said Skyrim developer Bethesda was sniffing around, but publisher bitComposer today announced that it has grabbed the games license and plans to make more S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

"S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a reputable brand with a long history of success. To date, the series has sold many millions of units worldwide," bitComposer executive Wolfgang Duhr said in today's announcement. "Naturally, we'd like to tap into the success of this series, and we see a great deal of potential for the future."

bitComposer published the third and almost final S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, Call of Pripyat (pictured above), in Europe. Who exactly it'll draft to develop the new games is a mystery for now. One might hope it'll find its way back to Vostok, who established its own new setting in Survarium after failing to secure the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game rights.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is based upon the sci-fi novel 'Roadside Picnic' by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, which was also the inspiration for the 1979 Russian movie Stalker.

For November's final Weekend Confirmed, Garnett Lee, Jeff Cannata, and "Indie" Jeff Mattas are joined by Jake Kazdal of 17-BIT Games, the indie studio behind the upcoming strategy game, Skulls of the Shogun. Far Cry 3 gets much love from Mattas, Cannata talks about his joyous return to Darksiders 2, and Garnett gives an update on his slog through the final hours of Lost Odyssey. The lively discussion includes a whole lot more, before the crew's Finishing Moves and post-show TailGate cap things off.

Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his latest Album, Club Tipsy on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter @delriomusic.

In what seems to be an odd move, Humble Bundle has teamed with publisher THQ to offer seven PC games in its traditional pay-what-you-want packs. It marks the first time Humble has bundled games from a large publisher, while packaging Windows-only games and using the Steam DRM.

The package of games, which will be unlocked with Steam codes, includes Darksiders, Red Faction: Armageddon, Metro 2033, Company of Heroes and two CoH stand-alone expansions, Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor. If you beat the average donation, you'll get Saints Row: The Third as a bonus.

The move is unusual as it goes against Humble's traditional indie games and anti-DRM stance. As for THQ, the cash-strapped publisher is apparently looking for money any way it can to survive. The company is already looking for buyers, and big games like Metro: Last Light and Company of Heroes 2 have been delayed.

Dmitry Glukhovsky's post-apocalyptic novel Metro 2033, which was introduced to most of us by 4A Games' pleasing video game adaptation, is headed to the silver screen. MGM has picked up the movie rights, and it's a fair bet that it'll follow the game's lead and be light on philosophy and politics, but heavy on action, given Hollywood's penchant for the bombastic.

Fledgling screenwriter F. Scott Frazier is penning Metro 2033's script, the Hollywood Reporter reports. Mark John is producing the movie, who's made his name with talkies including Donnie Brasco, The Chronicles of Narnia, and Good Morning, Vietnam.

Metro 2033's set in the subways of a post-apocalyptic Moscow, where each station has become a different town, sheltering from the cold and horrors above. Of course, mutants are a problem.

Of course, it's still early days and countless adaptations fall by the wayside.

4A is currently working on sequel Metro: Last Light, previously known as Metro 2034 but quite different to the original novel of the same name. It's due on PC, 360 and PS3 in Q1 2013.

Garnett and the two Jeffs are joined by regular guest Andrea Rene this week to liven up the summer gaming drought with discussions about a number of games and some recent news. The psychedelic action game DYAD gets praised some more, and some fresh Borderlands 2 details are shared. In the spirit of clearing out summer backlogs, Garnett finally dives into the post-apocalyptic Russian subway system of Metro 2033, and comes away quite impressed. The mild controversy surrounding the Fez patch also gets discussed, before the crew brings it all home with Finishing Moves.

Weekend Confirmed comes in four segments to make it easy to listen to in segments or all at once. Here's the timing for this week's episode:

Show Breakdown:

Round 1 00:00:48 â" 00:30:25

Whatcha Been Playing Part 1 00:31:19 â" 01:09:35

Whatcha Been Playing Part 2 01:10:19 â" 01:31:43

Listener Feedback/Front Page News 01:32:33 â" 02:10:47

This podcast is brought to you by SquareSpace.com. Squarespace.com, the fast and easy way to publish a high-quality website or blog. For a free trial, go to â" SquareSpace.com and enter the code WEEKENDCONFIRMED7.

Jeff Cannata can also be seen on The Totally Rad Show. They've gone daily so there's a new segment to watch every day of the week!

Original music in the show by Del Rio. Get his Album, The Wait is Over on iTunes. Check out more, including the Super Mega Worm mix and other mash-ups on his ReverbNation page or Facebook page, and follow him on twitter @delriomusic.

Del Rio's newest album, Club Tipsy, has also been released! Check out his official web page for more information.

The anime-inspired Tau are bringing their mecha suits to Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II - Retribution this month, with a new Tau Commander hero coming to Last Stand mode as paid downloadable content. Developer Relic also announced that new premium multiplayer chapters are in the works for the Chaos and Imperial Guard factions.

"The major themes that drove the design were to have a hero that was offensively potent but fragile, and to provide different avenues of playstyle," Relic's Clint Tasker explained in the announcement dev diary. According to Tasker, the Tau Commander can be set up to be offensive powerhouses, disrupt enemy forces, or support their allies.

Relic says that the Tau Commander will arrive alongside Imperial Guard Death Korps of Krieg and Chaos Word Bearers chapter packs in the next update, this month. The chapter packs traditionally cost $7.49. Relic hasn't announced how much the Tau Commander, the first new Last Stand DLC hero, will be.

While the Tau became playable in the original Dawn of War with the standalone expansion Dark Crusade, this will be their debut in the Dawn of War II sub-series.

The closure of Homefront developer Kaos Studios earlier this year left the future of the near-future shooter franchise in question, but THQ announced today that a sequel's on the way. Surprisingly, it'll be made by Crysis creator Crytek.

THQ coyly avoids saying much about the game, but in 2010 it spoke of plans for a Homefront: London at some point in the series. Whatever this sequel turns out to be, it's headed to PC and consoles in 2014.

"Selecting Crytek to take Homefront forward underscores our strategy of working with the industry's best talent," THQ core games EVP Danny Bilson said in the announcement. "With Crytek's industry leading technology and legendary experience in the FPS genre, we're supremely confident that the next Homefront will deliver that AAA-quality experience that players demand."

Crytek is also unsurprisingly enthusiastic, with CEO Cevat Yerli saying, "We see Homefront as a really strong universe that has a lot of potential and that has been expertly created and marketed by THQ."

"We believe that bringing our level of quality, creativity and production values to the next Homefront title creates an opportunity for both THQ and Crytek to deliver a truly blockbuster game. It's really important to us that THQ has the faith in giving us a lot of creative freedom over one of its most important properties to allow us to bring the Homefront world to life in a new and innovative way."

Evidently, THQ's new strategy of focusing on "high-quality owned IP with broad appeal" includes using external studios to work on its own properties. That recent "strategic realignment" saw THQ close another two of its internal studios lay off around 200 people as it moved away from making licensed and kids' games.

The original Homefront launched to a lukewarm critical reception in March, but, according to THQ estimates, sold one million units in its first ten days. Today's announcement described Homefront as "a commercial success for THQ."

The pack is coming in a nebulous "future update," so we're in the dark for release timing. In the past, armor packs have cost $7.49, so this is likely to hit at the same price, but nothing has been announced.

In a blog post, we got a peak at the units. Each of them carries "a distinctly Roman Empire influenced look" according to Relic artist Matt Kuzminski. This manifests itself in ornate armor styles and stylish plating. Kuzminski calls the Dreadnought his "favourite element of this pack," modeled after the Forge World version. Old Space Marine models have been replaced with Scouts and Devastators to match the aesthetic.